Death Among the Stars Quest 7GraveQM!OAW/XsPFOk10/22/15(Thu)18:40:17No.43222657

You are almost ready.

Almost ready to take this planet for your own and use it as the first step to spread your power across the Galaxy. In mere days you've slowly regained your lost power. Your reconstructed army swells with new troops by the day. You have even created the second of your Cauldrons, their fledgling intelligences yearning to serve you.

The Dagger Pirates have fallen by your hand, enslaved or consumed and their base taken. You even have the chance to leave this planet with the captured Dropships but you feel this planet and it's unsuspecting peoples have more to offer you. Their leaders reveal one of their large Clanships and small fleet of ships are due within two weeks, a worthy challenge to prepare for.

The Osjiic forces dwindle from your covert attacks and misdirection, the survivors unsuspecting of your skeletal hand in their recent misfortunes. Those you've enslaved disclosed their scout fleet will return within several weeks as well.

For a seemingly small and unremarkable fringe world, Horizon's Drop was becoming much busier and more important than anyone could have predicted.

You see it as a sign. Your freedom and growing power. These two forces can't even begin to suspect the terror and ruin you'll bring to them.

Pastebin with info, I did update the costs for troops and supplies to prevent the use of fractions: http://pastebin.com/E8M2QnQqMake sure to follow my twitter where I announce the threads: https://twitter.com/CeroTheNullAlso archive of previous threads: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=death+among+the+stars

Within the sublevels of the pirates base you've created a larger secondary Cauldron. The bodies of the pirates and your own fallen troops have been dumped into the churning black liquid, awaiting your command to reconstruct a new addition to your army. Activity back at the mine has increased with your newly enslaved minions aiding in the efforts.

The Osjiic outpost still recovers from the Pirates attack, your Gargoyle keeping a constant eye on their activities. They focus repairing the sensor tower but too much of it lay melted from the attack. Even their turret gun lay in pieces, broken from the fall.

What do you wish to do next?>Create troops>Investigate planet (with dropship)>Attack Osjiic Outpost>Attack Colony>Interrogate enslaved>Other

I forgot to mention that while you've hunted the area around the Mine rather thoroughly the canyons and cliffs by the pirate base are still untouched beyond whatever hunting the Pirates were up to before you arrived and hunted them.

>>43223216Standing by the edge of the Cauldron you watch as the first clawed hands reach out for the rim and pull the bodies of your newest creations from the bubbling black liquid. You can feel the pleasure the Cauldron takes from reconstructing the dead into soldiers for your unholy cause.

Your new troops roam through the base, helping pick up and repair the mess you made in your conquest. Your new enslaved minions find themselves drawn from their tasks repairing vehicles and fortifications and find themselves grouping up in a hangar where you waited for them.

They stay close together, watching you and your undead guards warily. Brushing imaginary dust from your armor you look down on them with hollow sockets, most of them flinching as you look their way. Several jump as you speak, "We are in need of fuel and supplies. Does your clan have any hidden caches on this planet? I highly doubt this singular base is the extent of your operations."

They murmur among themselves until the base commander, a Netu with once elaborate armor, speaks up, "There are several weapon and supply caches we've hidden across the continent. I know the locations."

You nod and point to him, "Excellent, just what I wanted to hear," you glance at the others, "I hope you are all as helpful as your former leader in the future," you look back to the commander, "We'll have to go retrieve them soon. What about elsewhere in this system?"

"The gas giant has a few moons we've hidden other caches. Also a base on one of them for mining the planet for fuel," the Netu divulges with remarkable ease.

The woman grumbles and rubs the metal arm before answering, "Hover vehicles as you saw. Know enough on how to keep a dropship from falling apart that I could make a brand new one. Our ships use fusion power for sub-light travel but we use Skip Engines for FTL. Not as stable as the Grav drives the Confederates use or as powerful that Void junk the Osjiic shove into everything but it's fast. Netu love to salvage and incorporate tech from anything they can get their talons on," she glares at the Netu pilot that mumbles something under it's breath.

Tapping your chin you nod, "Interesting. We'll have to discuss this subject more in depth soon. Tell me about the history of the Dagger Clans."

They murmur for several moments and a Netu pilot steps forward, "My mother was history keeper on the Clanship. The Dagger Clan is a sister fleet to the Spear and Arrow Clans. Once we were only Netu in the ages after our betrayal by the Alliance of Planets. After the Necrotic Armada was beaten and shattered they gave the Netu, the backbone and meat of their fleets, the worlds consumed by the Armada as "thanks" for our sacrifice.

These systems were barren and cursed, still barely more than graveyards. The Lightdrinker, Akka-Tor, consumed our home systems as vengeance for our part in her defeat. With no worlds to call home the Netu turned to the stars. We take to survive with no home of our own. We eventually grew to give refuge and purpose to those betrayed or forgotten by their own kind, becoming more than Netu, becoming a Clan," the pilot finishes and the other Netu nod approvingly.

Interesting. She always was one to make grand gestures and retaliation. You wonder if they knew more about your own faction.

Leaning towards them the crowd subconsciously draws back, "Tell me what you know of the Wormstar. Does the name Jadyk mean anything in your histories?"

They glance at each other before the pilot is pushed forward again, "The Wormstar was a living star. Evil and malicious it desired to consume the universe out of spite and jealousy. Jadyk was the Wormstars champion, crafter of monsters. A monster himself," they pause and look up at your skeletal form clad in ancient chitin armor, "You are him, Jadyk of the Wormstar, yes?" You nod simply and feel the fear in them grow even larger.

You motion for them to continue and they take a breath through the spiracles at the base of their neck, "You disappeared, your fleet was broken, defeated. The Wormstar's fleet was powerful but once broken the Armada was slowly turned back. The Wormstar was slain by unknown powers. Stories muddled but say the Wormstars songs went quiet, its fires cold and its undead crumbled. That is all we know," it says, hoping you found it satisfactory.

You always assumed your continued existence proved the survival of the Wormstar but now you begin to wonder if the whispered chorus in your skull was not but echoes.

Waving your hand you dismiss them and turn your back on them as they return to their previous tasks.

>>43224948You summon several of your living minions then quickly send them to gather the supply caches. The two dropships are loaded with your troops and manned by the Netu pilots with the Voidsinger taking command. In a whirling of dust they lift off and speed away into the sky. You almost worry about sending them so far from yourself but your worry is shortlived. You can feel them clearly, your power grown great enough that they are bound to your will and commands.

Your new flock of Gargoyles spring into the air and flap away to scour the canyons and cliffs surrounding the base. Talons and Cyclops lope out of the base and into the wilderness to begin their hunt to feed the new Cauldron.

The silence of the Wormstar and the stories of the Netu was the only thing that caused you to worry. The ever present hiss and whispering that filled the silences called and gnawed at you where the choir of the Wormstar once sang unhallowed hymns.

You set aside your weapons and shield then levitate into the air to hover over the Cauldron. Bathing in the fumes that roiled off the necrotic swill you focus on the memory of the Wormstar and the power that once filled you.

The hiss grew louder, like static over a radio and you listen intently, the world around you fading. You hardly notice as your Talons bring the first of their hunt to the Cauldron and depart, time slipping away from you.

Stretching your consciousness to the stars you probe for an answer to your silent plea but only hearing the background noise of the universe chiming away like radioactive clockwork. Through it all you still sense the whispers where once glorious hymns rang out. You focus on the whispers, trying to draw out some word or sense from them but they slip from your grasp like mist on a wind.

>>43225363You are nearly ready to give up for the time when you feel something....twitch in the whispers and echoes. Something feels your attempts and turns its gaze to you. You catch a briefly glimpse of squirming wet flesh and a smooth dome of pale bone. You feel recognition in the gaze but just as quickly as it appeared you lose your grasp on it.

Your body jerks as you return to awareness and you nearly drop into the Cauldron below. Drifting away from the Cauldron you lower yourself to your feet and see the pile of corpses that grew during your meditation.

Even the dropships have returned and you realize you've been out of awareness for several hours now.

>>43225506So I'm kinda curious, what exactly IS the Wormstar? Is it a non corporeal spirit of all necro kind, or an actual physical astronomical object like a planetoid of some sort? Wonder where it came from now.

>>43225506Your Talons and Cyclops proudly display the array of animals they hunted at your command. Cliff-jumpers, raptorsnakes, and even several harpoon-beasts all await the Cauldron. At your command the Talons haul the creatures into the Cauldron, feeding the greedy mind within.

You pat a Talon approvingly on its smooth dome of a head and it hisses in simple pleasure. Your soldiers were quite the talented hunters, the Cauldron receiving a feast.

Gained: 90B

Emerging the surface where night has fallen you find your enslaved Netu unloading crates and barrels from the dropships. They see you approach and they straighten, the Voidsinger leaving the dropship to meet you.

"Secured several caches exactly where the Daggers said they would be. Mostly fuel and ammo. I did find out from one of the pilots that there is a small base on the moon of this planet. They stashed a garrison smaller than this one with a handful of other dropships and fighters," the Osjiic glances at the Netu you feel guilt leaking from, "They had hoped to keep it a secret from you but they sent a message to the moon-base when you attacked. They know they've been overrun but they have no communication with the Clan yet. They do not seem to have FTL-communication."

You pat the Voidsinger on the shoulder even as the trio of Netu on the base suddenly fall, convulsing in agony, "Well done. You may yet keep your mind when you truly join my army," you say as you walk past to examine the contents of the recovered caches

>>43225645>So I'm kinda curious, what exactly IS the Wormstar? Is it a non corporeal spirit of all necro kind, or an actual physical astronomical object like a planetoid of some sort?Yes. The Wormstar hungers

>>43226054>Undead hover bikersOh hell to the yes. And about arming them, we can equip all the talons for 24M, why don't we equip the stingers with thumpers for 12M? Might as well designate the troll as a melee unit.

One of my favorite encounters ever was with a Lich that kept making puns in a Chinese-esque manner where they were meticulously thought out and contained layers of references that only people familiar with ancient literature would understand. He just kept getting more and more pissed as the jokes flew over our heads until finally our Bard succeeded on his knowledge check and laughed. Diplomacy was easier after that.

>>43226713The weapon they called the Heavy Blaster was a larger version of the arm-mounted solar blaster that the Netu used. Instead of a single beam of concentrated energy the heavy version fired a pulse of beams that to the naked eye looked as if a solid continuous beam. You take apart the samples you have and with the assistance of the engineers you believe you grasp the concept quite well.

One of the damaged hoverbikes is disassembled and explained to you as you watch over their shoulder. You had known about hover tech but hardly gave it much thought in your old fleet. After seeing how reliant on vehicles your victims were you knew you should adapt and adopt this new tactic.

Secluding yourself with the Cauldron you plunge your hands into the liquid and work, dissolving the weapons and reshaping them.

>Created Flayer>Large reconstructed or powerful undead units can use this weapon of rippling bones and necrotic crystal to focus and channel a beam of powerful necrotic energy. Can fire as a continuous beam until the weapon overheats and must cooldown or fired in short pulses to prolong overheating. The necrotic energy is equally powerful against living and armored targets stripping away layers of flesh and metal. Cost: 6M

>Created Chariot>Remaking the hoverbike to fit your aesthetic tastes and reconstructed technology you've created a sleek device of deceptively sturdy metal and chitin. Requiring a single unit to pilot it can carry two medium sized units as gunners or a single heavy unit. Fast and nimble it is powered by several necrotic charged Cauldron crystals. Cost: 10M

By consuming the mundane versions you pull from the Caulron three of the heavy Flayers and set a group of Talons to pull out and assemble the parts for two chariots.

>>43227035My concern is that we won't be able to openly attack any of the other power players on this world without incurring a response. Thus far in the quest our secrecy has kept us safe, but once we start wiping entire settlements off the map we're probably going to attract quite a bit of attention. I want our bases to able to withstand a direct and substantial assault in case that happens, because we'll be in deep shit if we lose our cauldrons.

>>432272191. Not going to work2. This palce is for the moment cut off.3. We can blame the last osjic outpost falling on the Dagger clan and the moonbase falling on the Osjic. Once this world is claimed we can build a fleet and vanish. This world has one major settlement. We take it we're golden.

>>43227093I should clarify that Horizon's Drop the planet only has the colony as its only settlement. The rest of the planet is unsettled and mostly unexplored. There is a more temperate area near the equator coasts with large rainforests and swamps.

>>43227425You send your will through your troops and minions and they mobilize from both bases. Even the Osjiic Voidsinger climbs into a dropship alongside a Troll toting a Flayer that hums with energy.

You send a thought to the Voidsinger, telling him to make you proud and you detect a hint of amusement from him but yet no resistance to the order to attack his former comrades. The Dropship takes off and only stops to collect a portion of your troops from the Mining base.

The Chariots drop from the underside of the dropship as it flies low to the ground and take off with Stingers riding with Bone Rifles and thumpers. The dropship lands behind a ridge of rocky hills and the Osjiic tells the Netu pilot to hold until they called for them.

Gargoyls swoops over the base from a high altitude, dropping pale grenades that crack open in billowing clouds of smoke. The Osjiic start to shout and one dashes for their radio but a Cyclops watching from the nearby hills pins the soldiers hand to the radio with a well placed spine of bone.

The Chariots swoop in and the Stingers fire their thumpers launching more smoke grenades into the chaos of the camp. The Voidsinger charges alongside Trolls and Talons as they run through a desperate spray of bullets that ricochet off their shields.

As they ran a sphere of roiling Void energy forms in their hands and they cast the erratic sphere out. It collides with the plasteel pallisade and the wall crumples in on itself and falls at the creation of a temporary but powerful gravity well. Talons flood in along with the Stingers and swarm over the unlucky Osjiic that valiantly try to fight back.

Soon though they were overwhelmed and subdued or slain. You turn your attention back to matters closer at home as they loot the camp and secure their prisoners.>roll 1d100 best of first 3 for looting

You know, there is something I'm curious about, what is it that inspired Jadyk to be so loyal and have so much faith in the Wormstar? Something must have happened to inspire such devotion, even when there is doubts about whether it still exists.

>>43227720As your troops to deal with the last of the Osjiic outposts you send your attention to the Mine where Jor kept the recently enslaved miners busy. They shot him glares and refused to speak to him but they obeyed his commands after a Talon obeyed his command to attack one of the miners when they refused to work in your absence. The Talon was only for show but you approved of his methods.

A Talon approaches the stout dark-skinned man where he was tending to one of the large drilling machines and speaks with your voice, "Jor, a word if you will," causing him to yelp and jerk, dropping his tool and smacking his head as he crawls backwards out of the innards of the machine.

He stares wide-eyed at the Talon as he stands, "Lord Jadyk?"

The Talon sways on its feet like normal but your voice issues from it once more, "Who else would it be? Your father?"

Jor blinks and manages a weak chuckle more for you benefit than any sense of humor at the bizarre situation, "W-what was it that you required?"

You share with him your desire for a place you knew would be safe. A fortress that would shield you until it was time for you to leave. He says the Mine could be expanded and reinforced. The former foreman of the mine even goes on to suggest turning your old prison into the basis of a fortified bunker deep in the mountain. Caught up in his attempt to please you he even says the Cauldron could be move there as well to keep it safe and hidden.

The Talon is silent for several long moments, "That is not a bad idea Jor. I'll leave it in your capable hands."

"T-thank you, Lord Jadyk, I'll do my...oh," he trails off as the Talon ambles off as your attention turns away. Jor sighs and runs fingers through his hair before moving off to speak with the other living miners.

>>43227842And? We aren't one now, and I doubt the Wormstar is currently in any condition to take back what it gifted us.

>>43227917Really? From how it is currently sounding, the Wormstar is not only a God of Death, but is now also a Dead God, or at least, so weak that it is possible that we are now the strongest between us.

>>43228019There is something that needs to be known about entities like the wormstar.It can die. It can't because it's never alive.Let me explain. First death is not the opposite of life, it is only the absence of it. And just as cold is not a force of its own but just the absence of heat death is not a force of its own.Death is the neutral state. It is the zero

The wormstar is not if death but of a force that is the opposite of life in every way. It is the negative numbers hiding behind zero. So because it's not alive it can be killed. It can however be divided by i

Now something important about this Think Tank. For this to work you must sacrifice several living beings for the Cauldron. It will rip the technical knowledge from the sacrifices as it consumes them to fuel itself. Or it can form into creation and copy the current knowledge stored within Jadyk and the Cauldrons currently and will add to this knowledge as it progresses and learns.

>>43228228What about one that study's the biology of a creature? Like you put a creature in it and it will figure EVERYTHING about how it works and what aspects of it we can use and how best to use them.

How about two cauldrons The think tank that study's the bio of a creature And the Tinker Taylor that studies the tech and tech knowledge

>>43228228You feel your Cauldrons pulsing with power and potential and you feel it is time to recreate one of the keys to previous success as a galactic terror.

You personally forge and shape the metals you need within your large Cauldron, infusing the very metal with necrotic energy, the sigils and runes carving themselves in the metal. You spend your time perfecting the complex shell of twisted metal as you wait for your latest captives.

Once the dropship arrives and deposits its cargo of loot and bodies you have the Trolls escort the human, vorh and osjiic engineers down into the Cauldron room. They are kept silent by the shards but you feel their terror growing as the twisted shape of your "Think Tank" rises up from the bubbling liquid.

You nod to the Trolls and they shove the sacrifices into the pit that froths and leaps at their struggling. You feel the newborn cauldron pulsing with power as it rips the knowledge and skills from the sacrifices, mimicking the imprinted knowledge of its sibling Cauldrons.

You watch over it as it sorts through its new memories and thoughts before it reaches out blindly with its own created will. You reach out and place a skeletal hand on the black metal and the hovering container of necrotic fluids jerks but grows calm as you bind it to yourself.

You feel its mind adjust to its brand new existence before you feel its words in your mind, <This one is ready to serve and learn for you, Lord Jadyk. The Think Tank is at your service.>

>Created Think Tank>A creation of twisted necrotic infused metal the Think Tanks are similar to a Cauldron intelligence but dedicated to the study and research to aid their master. Think Tanks give a bonus to studying new technology and/or biological samples and finding ways to incorporate them in your soldiers, weaponry, and technology. They can control units either in aiding research or battle situations. They are also vital to the piloting and controlling of your eventual starships.